The water tank type toilet or water closet commonly installed in homes or apartments is provided with a simple flushing mechanism which is generally comprised of a series of mechanical linkages which act to pull the tank ball from the tank or cistern drain by means of a connecting chain upon rotation of a pivotally mounted external handle. When the tank is flushed, the tank ball freely falls back over the cistern drain and the cistern is refilled. While this mechanism is quite simple, it has several shortcomings. The flushing operation is quite noisy, which is generally unpleasant. Difficulty is often encountered in rotating the flushing handle which often results in a loss of a portion of the water held in the cistern which results in a less efficient flushing of the toilet bowl. This occurs as a result of the tank ball being initially only partially lifted from the cistern drain and thereby allowing water to pass therethrough prior to the complete flushing of the bowl. When the ball is then completely lifted from the cistern drain and flushing occurs, less water is available to carry out the flushing operation. Furthermore, the standard flushing mechanism which allows the tank ball to freely drop back onto the cistern drain often causes an imperfect seal between the tank ball and cistern drain, resulting in a "running toilet" with water continually leaking through this imperfect seal.
In a toilet flush mechanism, it is highly desirable to release all of the water held within the cistern drain immediately upon actuation because the greater amount of water provides a more thorough flushing of the toilet bowl. To accomplish a rapid flush of all the water held within the cistern, it is necessary to rapidly lift the tank ball from the cistern drain to prevent any premature leakage of the water supply which necessarily results when the tank ball is slowly withdrawn from the drain. In addition to rapidly lifting the tank ball, a toilet mechanism should slowly and precisely lower the tank ball onto the cistern drain after flushing to assure proper seating of the ball and provide a watertight seal and thereby prevent annoying leakage down the cistern drain. Additionally, the toilet flushing mechanism which accomplishes the rapid lift and slow and accurate return of the tank ball should be relatively quiet in its operation and compatible with the tank type toilets currently in use.